He didn’t try to burn her. Instead, he sent it nice and easy over the plate. She took a great swing, but she was rusty and didn’t catch it all.

“Foul ball!”

He gave her the same pitch again, and this time she caught it clean. The bat cracked against the ball, and as her team whooped, she made it to second. He was startled by the burst of pride he felt.

“Nice going,” he muttered.

“Past my prime,” she said.

Captain Goodheart was up next, all solemn and serious, with the same worried look on her face he sometimes saw her aunt wearing. Hannah’s straight brown hair was a little lighter than Molly’s, but they had the same stubborn chin, the same slight tilt at the eyes. She was a serious kid, as well as being neat. Her American Girl T-shirt didn’t show any sign that she’d been playing with a couple of poodles and eating chocolate cake. He spotted a tiny notebook sticking out of the back pocket of her shorts, and something inside him melted. She seemed more like Molly’s daughter than Dan and Phoebe’s. Was this the way his little girl would have looked?

Out of nowhere his throat tightened.

“I’m not very good,” Hannah whispered from the plate.

Oh, man, not that … He was dead meat. He threw wide.

“Ball one.”

She looked even more worried. “I’m better at drawing. And writing things. I’m pretty good at writing things.”

“Cut it out, Hannah,” her insensitive jerk of a father called from second base.

Kevin had always considered Dan Calebow one of the best parents he’d ever known, which just proved how wrong he could be. He shot him a quelling look and threw a lob so soft, so gentle, that it didn’t make it to the plate.

“Ball two.”

Hannah bit her bottom lip and spoke in a helpless whisper. “I’ll be so glad when this is over.”

Kevin melted, and so did his next pitch, just as it passed over the plate.

Hannah bunted it with a choppy little swing.

Kevin went after the ball, but he didn’t hurry so he could give her enough time to make it to first base. Unfortunately, Cody missed the catch, and she made it to second.

He heard a chorus of cheers go up and saw Lilly slide home, Gucci pants forgotten.

Last Kids to Be Chosen in Gym Class 3, Jocks 0.

He cocked his head at Hannah.

“I’m not a very good batter,” she said in her lost-little-girl voice, “but I can run really fast.”

“Brother,” Dan said in disgust.

Kevin was about to say something comforting when the little girl exchanged a look with her aunt that just about knocked him off his feet. It was only a smile. But it wasn’t an ordinary smile. Oh, no. It was a sly little hustler’s smile!